Pauline Oostenrijk’s new release comes on the heels of two other splendid recent collections of Vivaldi’s oboe concertos (Lajos Lencsés on Hänssler, Fanfare 33:6, and Alex Klein on Cedille, Fanfare 34:4). As you have already surmised from the previous sentence, Oostenrijk’s performances, too, are absolutely first-rate. She’s as nimble in the fast movements as her counterparts, but not quite as adventurous as Klein—which is to say less idiosyncratic—in the slow movements. The latter could be perceived as an advantage to her, though Klein has the advantage of two extra concertos (somewhat counterbalanced by Challenge’s inclusion of the string concerto, RV 127). Lencsés, like Oostenrijk, recorded six concertos, two of which are not on either her disc or Klein’s. Interestingly, all three of these modern-day double-reed wizards are emphatic in expressing their admiration for the girls of the Ospedale della Pietà, for whom Vivaldi wrote these concertos, and who must have been, by common consent, among the greatest-ever practitioners of their craft. Incidentally, all three play modern instruments, not the two-keyed oboes available to the Ospedale oboists. Oostenrijk’s offering comes in the form of a book that features a marvelous essay, dedicated to Pellegrina, the most prominent of Vivaldi’s, as she calls them, “oboe girls.” Oostenrijk, of course, as one of the more accomplished present-day oboe girls, has a point of view, and her essay goes a long way toward tipping the balance in her favor. But you can’t miss with any of these superlative recordings.